A quest to eat nothing but pumpkin products for a day

What if I told you there was somebody who loves pumpkin spice products so much that he only eats that for a day?

Hi, my name is Gray.

My whole life, I have loved pumpkin and pumpkin spice products. Lattes, pie, bread — I love it all.

That's why I, Gray Hughes, being of sound mind and questionable body, challenged myself to eat and drink only pumpkin spice related products for a day.

If I have coffee, it has to be pumpkin. If I have a snack, it has to be pumpkin related. If I have a sandwich, it has to be on a pumpkin-y type bread. You get the idea.

The only concession I allowed myself was that I could drink water, and if I have something on a sandwich it doesn't have to be pumpkin or pumpkin spice so long as it's on a pumpkin-type bread.

For some reason, I don't think pumpkin spice turkey would taste very good.

Finding pumpkin spice food items proved to be more challenging than I anticipated. If you saw someone wandering around the Acme in Salisbury around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, muttering things about pumpkin spice, that was me.

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To my mom and any former college professors concerned about my well-being, I apologize.

The day 

9 a.m. On the day of, I started off my day I planned. Pumpkin spice swirl bread with peanut butter and a pumpkin coffee.

Fellow reporter Ricky Pollit filmed my morning Facebook Live. As I bit into my sandwich, one thing popped into my mind. "Man, this is going to be harder than I thought."

Not that anything was wrong with my sandwich. It was actually great. I'd recommend it to anyone. But it was sweet. Very sweet. Maybe, dare I say, too sweet?

The morning went by just fine. The combination of the sugar from my pumpkin spice bread and my pumpkin coffee kept me energized and the protein from the peanut butter kept me full.

Noon. Then came lunchtime. As I pulled out my Tastykake, my editor, Ben Penserga, asked "Is that it?"

Sadly, yes.

I will admit, I was a bit nervous as I was about to bite into the pie. I love Tastykakes, and I love pumpkin pie, but I was nervous there would be too much of a good thing.

Boy, was I wrong.

It was great. It didn't quite taste homemade, but when you're 23 and have no cooking or baking skills of which to speak, what difference does it make?

As they say, nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake.

2 p.m. But a strange thing happened as time passed after eating the pie. I felt tired. I realized I failed to think this through. I went for perhaps the most sugary approach to this rather than taking three seconds and thinking it through.

A pumpkin soup for lunch would have been great. Same with something such like pumpkin ravioli. Or spaghetti with pumpkin sauce.

Literally anything but a mini pumpkin pie.

I also became overrun with the sudden urge to go to the gym. I hate going to the gym, but right then there was nothing I would have rather done than lift some weights or go for a run. Just something to get rid of this sugary feeling.

It was the strangest feeling I've ever had. I wanted to take a nap, but at the same time I needed to do something physical. Plus my hands were shaking, and I had heartburn. It was not a great feeling.

The biggest issue I had was also self-inflicted.

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Needless to say, I needed coffee come 2 p.m. It's been like this my whole life. In high school, my senior superlative was "most likely to die of a caffeine overdose."

But because of, once again, my failure to prepare, there was no pumpkin coffee in the office.

I was in rough shape.

4:30 p.m. That pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks couldn't come fast enough, and when that sweet, sugary pumpkin goodness hit my tongue, time seemed as if it stopped.

I had been reinvigorated! I ordered my beloved PSL with an extra shot of espresso, giving me the energy I needed. The pumpkin cream cheese muffin that accompanied it didn't hurt, either.

6 p.m. That got me the energy to get to dinner. Pumpkin pancakes at Denny's with Ricky Pollitt.

Those pancakes were my biggest struggle. I'd go as far as to say those three pancakes were the biggest food challenge of my life.

They were sweet, I was expecting that, and on any other day I'd be able to eat those and chase it with a side of bacon, hash browns and toast.

Not today.

Those pancakes were my Everest. I stared them down like the Phillies' Brad Lidge stared down the Rays' Eric Hinske when there was one out left in the 2008 World Series.

Those pancakes stared back at me like I was a Mitch Williams and they were Joe Carter in Game Six of the 1993 World Series.

And, like Carter against Williams, there was no question who won that battle.

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I couldn't finish them.

It wasn't that I was full, I was just sick of pumpkin and pumpkin spice. I had to throw in the towel. The pancakes laughed at me. Never have I failed at a food challenge.

6:45 p.m. Dejected, I walked over to Subway, got a hoagie with as many veggies as I could, and put it in the fridge so, come midnight, I could eat something that was not coated in sugar and get something of actual substance in my system.

I couldn't eat the pumpkin ice cream I got if I wanted to. That gallon of ice cream might be in the freezer for a long time.

10 a.m. Thursday So what did I learn? I learned that, as simple as this challenge is, if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. If I put just a little more effort into it, I could have done it no problem.

But not the way I did it. Too much sugar, not enough protein and nothing green of which to speak.

Do I recommend this challenge to other people? Sure. Just mix in a nice pumpkin bisque or some pumpkin ravioli, and don't eat a pumpkin pie Tastykake for lunch.

Now, if you need me, I'll be at the gym until New Year's.

On Twitter @hughesg19